A data-services storage area network (SAN) appliance, inserted into a data path between servers and storage systems, can provide data services, such as data replication, data caching, etc., by passing some commands through transparently, while altering others and initiating additional commands itself, depending on the needs of the service being provided.
Today, most other SAN applications choose to “virtualize” the storage underneath them (storage virtualization) and present a new “virtual volume” with its own identity to servers, and provide its own drivers and management programs to operate it.
Please refer to FIG. 1, which shows a conventional SAN configuration 1a that is configured between a first fibre channel (FC) switch 110 and a second FC switch 120. The conventional SAN configuration 1a includes a server set 100, the first FC switch 110, a SAN appliance 140, the second FC switch 120 and a storage system set 130, wherein the server set 100 contains a plurality of servers 100.1-100.3 and the storage system set 130 contains a plurality of storage systems 130.1-130.3. The plurality of servers 100.1-100.3 are electrically connected to the first FC switch 110 individually and the first FC switch 110 is electrically connected to the SAN appliance 140. Similarly, the SAN appliance 140 is electrically connected to the second FC switch 120 and the plurality of storage systems 130.1-130.3 are electrically connected to the second FC switch 120 individually.
Document US2007/0294563A1 discloses a data storage system and method. The system may comprise a data repository, and first and second storage controllers. One or more clients may access the data in the data repository via the first and second storage controllers. The second storage controller may be configured to at least partially inhibit network connectivity of the first storage controller if the first storage controller at least partially fails.
Document US2002/0133746A1 discloses a system and method of achieving High Availability on fibre channel data paths between an appliance's fibre channel switch and its storage device by employing a technique called “port spoofing.” The main purpose of this patent is dealing with component failure and does not provide transparent data-service for uninterrupted online maintenance.
Document US2012/0030670A1 discloses various systems and methods for providing high availability of an application executing in a highly-available virtual machine environment. This patent designs a method to determine whether the virtual machine should be restarted. The main purpose of this patent is dealing with component failure and does not provide transparent data-service for uninterrupted online maintenance.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 6,772,270B1 discloses a computer-subsystem configuration that allows Fibre Channel devices to couple with more than one such device or host computer. The main purpose of this patent is to allow configuration options without the use of an external hub device and does not provide transparent data-service for uninterrupted online maintenance.
Document US2002/0103943A1 discloses a distributed storage management platform (DSMP) architecture. This patent further introduces an idea of “storage virtualization” and does not provide transparent data-service for uninterrupted online maintenance.
Document US2003/0236945A1 discloses a method for storage virtualization in a Storage Area Network (SAN). The method is characterized by comprising the step of coupling a Storage Virtualization Manager (SVM). Also, the patent does not provide transparent data-service for uninterrupted online maintenance.
The conventional SAN configuration 1a is described above. Today, most other SAN appliances choose to “virtualize” the storage underneath them (storage virtualization) and present a new “virtual volume” with its own identity to servers, and provide its own drivers and management programs to operate it. However, in this respect, owing to the presence of the new “virtual volume”, the servers may not recognize the storage without re-configuration and re-mediation.
In order to overcome the drawbacks in the prior art, a storage proxy method for data-service SAN appliance is provided. The particular design in the present invention not only solves the problems described above, but also is easy to be implemented. Thus, the present invention has the utility for the industry.